Del Torro is a talented imagining dreamer but a flawed storyteller...

Rating: 6/10 (8 June 2014)

I love Guillermo Del Torro and I want to start the review by saying that because a lot of what I am going to write here is going to sound like brash criticism. Del Torro is a brilliant filmmaker. He is one of the most imaginative visual storytellers of recent years and for that he most be given his due praise. As much as a I love Del Torro though as a director and imaginer I have to admit his flaws as a screenwriter and a storyteller. 'Pacific Rim' looks amazing and has intense thrills but when the movie isn't showcasing it's monsters it's showcasing Del Torro's terrible insight into creating characters. 'Pacific Rim' is a ride but it is a cartoon.
In general I've pretty much always felt this way about Del Torro. I think the man can stage an action sequence as good as anybody. 'Pacific Rim' might be his masterpiece if this is all you are concerned with. Del Torro is able to do what a J.J Abrams and a Michael Bay can't, show epic size and scope with perspective. I can actually tell who is fighting who and that sadly is great praise. Del Torro doesn't just throw a bunch of stuff at the screen in the hopes that some of it will stick. He makes deliberate choices and a lot of these choices work. 'Pacific Rim' feels epic in the best sense of the word. There is a build up in the thrills and the final battle in the actual 'Rim' hits a high crescendo of pulp fun.
Del Torro's other great strength is his imagination. The universe of 'Pacific Rim' is so much fun. The first ten or fifteen minutes is nothing but exposition and yet I wasn't bored. If anything this is the most interesting and fun part of the movie. I love finding out about these jaegers and how the government came to defend us from the horrific giant monsters. It's like HP Lovecraft on acid in a Toho film and I was throughly entertained. I think I like these moments best because Del Torro is going into his strongest talent, imagining concepts. When the film has to be populated with characters well...
'Pacific Rim' on it's smallest and more personal level feels like every action cliché rolled into a super package. Del Torro's grasp on dialogue and plot feels as if he has only read the basest of comic books and action films. Charlie Hunnam is a talented actor but this character is so boring. He is merely just a hero. Our female lead Mako Mori played by Rinko Kikuchi is a nightmarish stereotype in my humble opinion. She doesn't do anything with the character and is only there to fit the stereotypes of Asian characters in these kind of science fiction films. She is fragile and that fragility is so false and only there so big strong Raleigh can win her. Of course she can also do karate with the best of them. These characters are the fantasy of a ten year old boy. That isn't to say that they can't be entertaining. Charlie Day and Burn Gorham are fun in the film because they recognize that they should not play this straight. Ron Perlman continues to be Del Torro's luck charm because I think he realizes that Del Torro is all about big choices.
Big choices can make a film like this very good but it is the smaller personal choices made by characters that make a film like this great.